THE US: On his way into central Tampa in the single-engined Cessna he had stolen from his flying school, 15-year-old Charles Bishop flew directly over the MacDill air base from which the entire US war in Afghanistan is conducted.
Ignoring the frantic hand signals from a Coast Guard helicopter, moments later, the young man, by all accounts a competent flyer, plunged his plane into the 28th floor of the city's highest building, the Bank of America Plaza, killing himself and leaving a fuselage dangling precariously over the street.
There were no other casualties in the sparsely occupied building whose structure is reported to have been unaffected by the 10 ft gash in its side.
Yesterday morning workers had already pulled the wreckage into the building as police began to ask why and how the teenager had been able to breach airport security with such ease, exposing once again the vulnerability of this society to the suicidal acts of individuals whether or not terrorism- inspired. Local police were quick to insist that there appeared to have been no terrorism connection to the incident, a grisly reminder of September 11th.
One local radio station reported that Bishop, an unremarkable freshman at East Lake High School in Palm Harbor in Pinellas County, had been despondent in recent days, but friends and relations were at a loss to explain his actions.
Bishop had been dropped off by his mother, Ms Julia Bishop, and grandmother, Ms Karen Johnson, earlier in the afternoon at St Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport for a flying lesson. Left alone by his instructor to carry out a preflight check-list in the plane, he took off without clearance, ignoring repeated radio calls from the tower as two F-15 Eagle fighter jets were screaming north from a South Florida air base to intercept him.
Within minutes he had crashed into the 42-storey building in the city's commercial centre at about 100 m.p.h. Bishop began learning to fly at the age of 13 and had about six hours flying time to his name - he would not have been allowed to fly solo, however, until his 16th birthday.
Some 50 people were evacuated from the building. Among them, Ms Hilary High, a lawyer, said she felt its impact, but didn't think to leave until she saw onlookers on the street below. "When I could see all those people looking up, it made me realise I should get out," Ms High said.
As to whether the crash was accidental or suicide, the Tampa Police Chief, Mr Benny Holder said: "I would hate to speculate on that at this time. He was a pretty decent pilot and knew how to fly the plane." Mr Michael Cronin, a lawyer and friend of the flying school's owners, said the young man had not been a cause for concern. "I'm very comfortable that this is an isolated terrible action by a distraught individual," he told the Tampa Tribune.
The National Transportation Safety Board is to begin an investigation into the crash.
